Memoirs of a badass
by Lybie
Summary: TEMPORARILY ON HOLD. My First fanfic. The story of how Dimitri fell in love with Rose. Ever wondered what Dimitri's true thoughts are? what lies behind that carefully controlled facade? Find out... contains mild swearing
1. Operation Recovery

**_This is my first fanfic so tell me what you think :) R&R _**

**_Thanks Lybie x_**

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><p>I kept to the shadows, moving quickly and lightly. I could see the pale glow from one of the second floor windows and caught a glimpse of a slim framed, blond haired female. She seemed to lean over another figure in a feeding posture. So this had to be Vasilisa Dragomir. After gaining access to the princess's trust fund, we had discovered that withdrawals were being made from a bank in Portland. After being briefed I had caught a flight from the academy and narrowed the location down to this neighbourhood and more importantly this house. I have to say I was impressed that a 15 year old novice had managed to break the princess out of the academy in the first place and after staking out this house I was shocked at how they'd managed so easily to blend in with the humans and manage to avoid detection from other guardians for so long.<p>

Chyort voz'mi, glancing back up at the window I locked eyes with a young girl. From her curved figure and shorter frame she was defiantly Dhampir. This must be guardian Hathaway's daughter. So she was the one the princess had been feeding on? In that case the girl would be weak and less of a threat. Sinking deeper into the shadows of a tree I cursed myself for getting distracted and switched back into guardian mode.

Leaping into action, I alerted the other guardians to be ready to move. There was a train station north of the house which could be a possible get away point so I dispatched three guardians to head to the north end of the street although I thought it unlikely they would head that way as it would be a long walk. We had records of a human living at the property who owned a car. After scouting the area we had come across the green Honda four blocks away registered the human Jeremy White. I'd sent orders out for another three guardians to be on the south end of the street close to where the car was parked. I had another guardian keeping watch on the house so we were certain of which way the girls were heading and two more guardians on watch round the back in case they tried to take the back exit. Which left me? I'd considered following from a distance behind but from what I'd learned at the school, the key to this operation would be to intimidate and surround them. Give them no possible escape routes and they should come quietly the headmistress had said, so I decided to wait by the entrance to an alleyway next to the car, cutting off another potential escape root whilst Kane followed them from behind.

Sure enough not 15 minutes after being spotted by the girl I received word over the radio that that they had exited the house and were heading south. After instructing the north guardians to start closing in, I melted into the shadows of the alley to lay in weight.

The faint sound of footsteps caught my attention, as they grew closer I moved towards the mouth of the alley and into the path of two girls. They were both about 17 years of age and in stark contrast of each other. Vasilisa was tall, thin and pale as most Moroi are with a flurry of golden blonde hair and the notorious green Dragomir eyes, although she was fairly pretty but look plane compared to her friend. The damphir with her had sun-kissed skin, and rich brown hair but none of this compared to her eyes. They were brown, much like my own but contained raw, relentless, untamed spirit burning in them. It startled me that someone so young could show so much bravery. She was like a trapped tiger and Vasilisa was her cub. She would fight to the death to free her charge and I was in her path.

"Leave her alone" she growled "don't touch her."

I extended my arms out as a calming and peaceful gesture for them to not be afraid. Unconsciously I took a small step forwards and in that second the tiger pounced. Instinct sent my hand flying out at her, protecting my neck as i would do if i were fighting a strigoi, but I wasn't fighting a strigoi. I was fighting a frightened, young girl. Realising this my other hand shot out to steady her.

Two tiny puncture wounds marked her neck. She had to be weak from giving blood so her co-ordination was lacking and my hold was all that saved her from crashing to the ground. Crimson suddenly coloured her cheeks and she re-adjusted her hair to cover the bite marks. Her beautiful chestnut locks cascaded down completely concealing them. She met my eyes with that same look of fierce defiance as she tried to pry herself out of my hold. I immediately let go as the damphir moved back into a protective stance again. The princess whisper something that seemed to visibly relax her a little.

Turning my attention to the princess I took a step forward and swept a small bow,

"My name is Dimitri Belikov, I've come to take you back to St Vladimir's Academy Princess."


	2. If looks could kill

_**Hey guys, just wanted to say thanks to ****roseskyangel**** and Mega-Shifter for being my first people to review, sorry it took me a while to update, couldn't figure out how to add a chapter. R&R  
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_**Thanks Lybie :) x**_

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><p>I don't trust that damphir. She always seems to be planning something. I turned my back for a minute and she was sitting plotting with the princess. Of course I soon put a stop to that although I don't think separation would stop her. I wanted to look at her again, there was something familiar about her. Carefully I leaned forwards so she wouldn't see me glancing. But when i looked into her eyes they were vacant, as if she was no longer there. There was something about the two of them together. It reminded me of a couple I'd visited with babushka when i was little. Oksana and mark, they had a similar kind of relationship, like they were in sync and at one with each other. I think babushka said it was a special bond they shared, but I was young at the time, I hardly remember the details. Maybe that's what these two girls share, some kind of bond. Hmmm well that's food for thought.<p>

For someone so small she's really kept me on my toes, I feel sorry for the poor bastard that gets stuck as her mentor. There's something about her, something about that feral look in her eyes. It fascinates me. I can't help it, I have to take another look over my shoulder, I can feel her eyes burning a hole in my back.Плотина, I was right, if looks could kill I'd be dead now. Another 20 minutes and we'll be back at the academy. Just another 20 minutes, I'm surprised she hasn't tried to jump out of the plane yet, I would have considered it. There's still time though so I better not speak to soon, I best go and distract her.

"Distracting her" just being an excuse to talk to her that is.

Why do I feel so nervous. Getting up from my seat, I strode over to where she was sitting and traded places with the guardian next to her. Her only reaction to that was to turn away from me and look out of the window. Hmmm someone is stubborn, I had to fight back a smile at that, she really didn't want to admit to herself that she had no hope of escaping.

I sat there with her in silence for a moment waiting for a snarky comment. It never came. I really didn't want her to hate me, I was only doing my job and what was best for her and the princess. If a strigoi had found them whilst they were AWOL they'd of been... well, they wouldn't have had a chance and that would have been the end of the Dragomir line. I just wanted her to see that this was for the best, that she didn't have to deal with all this by herself, she could trust me, and after all I was now Princess Vasilisas guardian too.

I couldn't bare the silence anymore, I wanted to know what she had been thinking, so I blurted out the first thing that came into my head "Were you really going to attack all of us?" Dam that just sounded like an accusation but i'd never been very good at pussy footing around, i liked straight and to the point much better. She didn't answer.

"Doing that…protecting her like that—it was very brave ... Stupid, but still brave. Why did you even try it?" I said trying to redeem myself.

She glanced over at me, brushing her hair out her face and meeting my eyes with a stready passionate look,

"Because I'm her guardian."

That was her only response before turning back to the window and clearly ending any conversation.

It was that simple to her.

She didn't need a promise mark to show that she would lay down her life for her moroi, and above all I was sure they shared a bond. That response left me speechless. There was nothing more for me to say, so I did the only thing I could think of and got up and swapped back with the other guardian again. She can be his problem. _Smooth_ Dimitri really smooth. Just palm her off to someone else.

After landing it had only taken us an hour to drive back to the Academy. Both girls were silent for the remainder of the journey. Not that they could really talk. I'd positioned the damphir girl in the middle seat between two guardians, just to be on the safe side. Someone had warned me that she'd consider anything so I took that to included jumping out of a moving vehicle. The princess was safely in the passenger seat next to me. Child lock on. I'd insisted on driving of course, I hate not being in control when I'm in a car, but that had come from growing up with Karolina behind the wheel. And believe me when Karolina was on the road everyone else was off it. Then again I hadn't seen her in almost 4 years so things could have improved... Nahh I doubt it!

The sun was just setting as we approached the gates into the academy. After speaking with the guardians on duty at the gate we parked up and I and the two other guardians from my car escorted the girls towards the upper school building. As I led the way towards headmistress Kirova's office I felt someone approaching closely behind me. I was surprised the see the young damphir smiling up at me. Well this was a change of tune.

"Hey, Comrade."

What?

I just kept walking. I still felt a little pissed that she'd left me speechless last time we'd spoken. If you could call it that.

"You want to talk now?" I asked.

"Are you taking us to Kirova?".

"Headmistress Kirova," I corrected.

"Headmistress. Whatever. She's still a self-righteous old bit—"

She didn't have a chance to finish that sentence because we entered the common rooms. We were greeted with silence and an array of expressions. I could of taken them the back way but I'd wanted to observe how she acted around Vasilisa in a stressful social situation so that I could be sure there was a bond. Well that and the fact that I wanted a little pay back on the damphir girl.

These expressions were met with a relaxed smile from the damphir as she held her head up high. I inwardly smiled to myself at that, she was always so proud, Дерьмо what was her name, it was killing me. I noticed the princess stiffen at my side but almost instantaneously the damphir shot a glance at somebody and she relaxed again. I looked up to see what had happened and meth the eyes of a young, blond girl with a face like гром. I didn't have time for any childish drama so I quickly moved them on. But at least now I was almost positive they did have a bond.


	3. Making Progress

**Hey guys, thanks for the reviews, been working on a christmas special fanfic to get everyone in the festive mood but im not publishing it untill 1st december**.

**Hope you enjoy this chapter, dont forget to R&R **

**thanks Lybie :)**

**(Ohhhhh and i noticed everyone does disclaimers, didnt realise you had to do them so... i own nothing :D)**

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><p>We entered the Headmistress drab office. All the other guardians left leaving Alberta and I to take up our positions along the back wall, my guardian mask hiding all of the curiosity I felt. The Headmistress was about to begin her line of questioning when Victor Dashkov interrupted.<p>

"Vasilisa."

I gritted my teeth in exasperation.

The princess practically flew out of her seat and embraced him

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you safe, Vasilisa." He said looking over at the damphir. "And you too, Rose."

_Roza. _It somehow seemed fitting for her. Like the flower, Beautiful but at the same time deadly.

I was called back to reality by Headmistress Kirova. She had started a lecture on how irresponsible and reckless the damphir. Roza, was to break out of the academy .

"You, Miss Hathaway, broke the most sacred promise among our kind: the promise of a guardian to protect a moroi. It is a great trust. A trust that you violatedby selfishly taking the princess away from here. The strigoi would love to finish off the Dragomirs; you nearly enabled them to do it."

Both Alberta and I tensed at that. I knew Alberta cared for roza, she'd told me that she'd watched her grow up with no family around her, that she'd seen how devoted rose was to the princess but couldn't understand why they had ran away.

"... if she'd done her duty she would have kept you safe"

Дерьмо I'd spaced out again.

"I did do my duty!" rose screamed making both Alberta and I flinched.

"I did keep her safe! I kept her safe when none of you"—she made a sweeping gesture around the room—"could do it. I took her away to protect her. I did what I had to do. You certainly weren't going to."

I wondered what she could have meant. From what I had witnessed, when it came to the princess's safety rose acted rationally, whatever the reason for them running away, it wasn't just about trying to act all grown up.

"Miss Hathaway, forgive me if I fail to see the logic of how taking her out of a heavily guarded, magically secured environment is protecting her. Unless there's something you aren't telling us?"

Rose just bit her lip and stayed silent. There was a reason. I could see it in her eyes. She wouldn't say because the princess didn't want her to, it had nothing to do with her being selfish. I had no doubt she had acted on what she thought where in the best interests of her charge no matter how misguided and impulsive it was.

"I see. Well, then. By my estimation, the only reason you left—aside from the novelty of it, no doubt—was to avoid the consequences of that horrible, destructive stunt you pulled just before your disappearance."

How could she be so blind? Didn't she see what was in front of her?

"No, that's not—"

"And that only makes my decision that much easier. As a Moroi, the princess must continue on here at the Academy for her own safety, but we have no such obligations to you. You will be sent away as soon as possible."

NO! I wouldn't let that happen. She did deserve to be a guardian, i could see the fire that burned in her eyes and I had seen firsthand how devoted she was. She had been willing to lay down her life for the princess. She needs guidance yet this entire stupid woman wanted to do was throw her away because she couldn't be bothered with the hassle.

"I…what?" Well that shut her up I couldn't help but thinking.

Vasilisa stood up, "You can't do that! She's my guardian" she cried.

"She is no such thing, particularly since she isn't even a guardian at all. She's still a novice."

"But my parents—"

"I know what your parents wanted, God rest their souls, but things have changed. Miss Hathaway is expendable. She doesn't deserve to be a guardian, and she will leave."

_EXPENDABLE! _ She made her sound like a piece of faulty machinery she could just throw away. Is that really what she thought guardians were? _Expendable. _глупая сука.

"Where are you going to send me? To my mom in Nepal? Did she even know I was gone? Or maybe you'll send me off to my father?" asked Rose.

"Or maybe you're going to try to send me off to be a blood whore. Try that, and we'll be gone by the end of the day." The venom leaked through her words, making me flinch.

She didn't know what a blood whore was, I doubt she'd even seen one, for that I tried not to take offence but the words still hurt even though they weren't directed at me. I loved my family, I'd grown up feeling happy and safe and most importantly loved, but the place i had grown up in was classed as a blood whore town. I wish people could see how wrong there presumptions were, the people i grew up with were decent and honest, far more so than some of the moroi men who visited there. Far more than my pathetic excuse for a father.

"Miss Hathaway you are out of line." She hissed.

God what Kirova said made me angry, I needed to get a grip. Think logically. Defend her.

"They have a bond." WOW great line of defence Dimitri I thought sarcastically.

Everyone turned to stare at me but i only saw her. Roza. She looked at me with those beautiful fierce eyes. At the moment they were full of surprise and gratitude and trust. I had to help her. I knew I was doing the right thing.

"Rose knows what Vasilisa is feeling. Don't you?" I asked her, never letting my eyes leave hers, trying to show her that she could trust me.

"No…that's impossible. That hasn't happened in centuries."

"It's obvious," I said looking into her eyes and seeing the surprise and satisfaction register.

"I suspected as soon as I started watching them." With that she broke out contact

"That is a gift," murmured Prince Victor from his corner. "A rare and wonderful thing."

"The best guardians always had that bond," I stated. "In the stories."

"Stories that are centuries old. Surely you aren't suggesting we let her stay at the Academy after everything she's done?" she gasped

I pushed myself to continue. "She might be wild and disrespectful, but if she has potential—"

"Wild and disrespectful?" interrupted Rose. What the hell was she doing? Couldn't she see that I was trying to help her?

"Who the hell are you anyway? Outsourced help?" Rose said angrily. Ok that had come out as an unintentional insult.

"Guardian Belikov is the princess's guardian now," said the Headmistress. "Her sanctioned guardian."

"You got cheap foreign labour to protect Lissa?"

Had she just forgotten that I was defending her? God I'd really pissed her off with that comment. Well good she pissed me off with hers. She clearly wanted to get kicked out of the Academy. I won't put any of my cheap foreign energy into getting her out of this mess. But then I looked into her eyes again and all my anger vanished. I could see she regretted what she said as I had.

Kirova threw her hands up in the exasperation and looked at me then.

"You see? Completely undisciplined! All the psychic bonds and very raw potential in the world can't make up for that. A guardian without discipline is worse than no guardian."

"So teach her discipline. Classes just started. Put her back in and get her training again." I said, trying to fight with my words. Something i wasn't used to.

"Impossible. She'll still be hopelessly behind her peers."

"No, I won't," said Rose.

Good she's trying to help me.

"Then give her extra training sessions." I threw back at her

"Who's going to put in the extra time?" demanded the Headmistress. "You?"

Ну дерьмо, I think I just lost "Well, that's not what I—"

The Headmistress crossed her arms with satisfaction. "Yes. That's what I thought."

All i could do was frown. I didn't want the responsibility of mentoring a novice. I'm awkward enough with people without giving me a gobby teenage girl.

I looked at Vasilisa and then met Rose eyes again. I knew she'd make an excellent guardian especially for the princess seems there bonded, and if she graduates she'd be working with me. So it would make sense for me to train her. The pleading in her eyes made my mind up

"Yes." I said. "I can mentor Rose. I'll give her extra sessions along with her normal ones."

"And then what?" she said. какого черта is she ever happy? "She goes unpunished?"

"Find some other way to punish her," I replied. "Guardian numbers have gone down too much to risk losing another. A girl, in particular." Yeh, not as _expendable_ as you think are we!

"I'm inclined to agree with Guardian Belikov. Sending Rose away would be a shame, a waste of talent," agreed Mr Dashkov

Kirova just turned to looked out the window.

I just put my ass on the line and give up most of my spare time to mentor this girl and all she can do is stare out the window? She doesn't even have to do anything.

The princess began pleading again "Please, Ms. Kirova. Let Rose stay."

She just sighed. "If Miss Hathaway stays, here's how it will be." She turned to Rose, "Your continued enrolment at St. Vladimir's is strictly probationary. Step out of line once, and you're gone. You will attend all classes and required trainings for novices your age. You will also train with Guardian Belikov in every spare moment you have—before and after classes. Other than that, you are banned from all social activities, except meals, and will stay in your dorm. Fail to comply with any of this, and you will be sent…away."

Rose let out a harsh laugh; she had to fight it all the way to the bitter end didn't she.

"Banned from all social activities? Are you trying to keep up apart?" she nodded toward the princess. "Afraid we'll run away again?"

"I'm taking precautions. As I'm sure you recall, you were never properly punished for destroying school property. You have a lot to make up for. You are being offered a very generous deal. I suggest you don't let your attitude endanger it."

God just shut up, you infuriating, stubborn, beautiful girl I thought as I closed my eyes in exasperation. If she didn't stop I knew she'd say something land her in trouble again. I looked into those eyes again and tried to tell her so many things. To just shut up, to trust me, that I just wanted to help her and that I cared what happened to her. It seemed to work because she closed her mouth and looked at the floor.

"Fine. I accept." Rose finally answered.

For the first time she looked defeated and that saddened me. As silly as that sounds, I...I cared about her. I know I hadn't even known her a day but I felt like I understood her. We were very different people but I'd once been like her. I'd been passionate and impulsive and wild, I'd beaten up my own father because he kept hurting my mother. I'd done that because i couldn't take being helpless any longer. I couldn't stand to watch the people that i loved being hurt. And I think that was the same for her... well kind of.

Like i said we are two very different people but from what I'd learnt from Alberta, she'd been practically abandoned at the gates of the Academy when she was 3 years old, she never saw her mother and presumably no relationship with her, she didn't know her father and she'd spent practically her whole like being scolded for acting out. Alberta said that until the Princess came along, she hadn't really been shown any love. She needed someone to care. And if she wanted me to, I would.


	4. So Im The Unlucky Bastard?

**Hey Guys, here's another update for you, t****hanks for all the lovely comments and advice**

**And dont forget to READ AND REVIEW!**

**Enjoy**

**Lybie :)  
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><p>The Girls were instructed to collect their schedules and return to classed immediately, usually I would follow my charge but I felt more responsible for rose. I mean I am I her mentor now and well... She is pretty unpredictable. Our first stop was at the guidance counsellors office to pick up a schedule, Alberta and I ignored rose the whole way, I was too deep in thought for idle chit chat.<p>

What the hell am I supposed to do with this girl? I mean from what I've seen, she's completely anti authority. If I throw orders at her she'll just resist and cause even more of a problem. No I have to let her come to me first; she has to learn by herself to trust me. After collecting her schedule we continued to her first lesson, I carried onto ignoring her as Alberta and I escorted her to the gym. This would be the perfect opportunity to plan her training; I can study her ability and attitude so I know where to begin. I could feel her eyes studying me but I didn't meet them, I suppressed my need to look at her and carried on until, to my relief we reached the doors of the gym.

Alberta and I stepped through the double doors and took our places on the back wall either side of the doors. Every head swivelled around to stare at rose, just like they had in the common rooms this morning. She just stood there in all her glory with that same lazy smile, before sauntering over to one of the other novice's, a boy with flaming, red hair and freckles. They seemed to be friends although he had an adoring look in his eyes which suggested he wanted to be more than that. I was suppressed at how annoyed that made me feel.

"Hey Mason, wipe the drool off your face. If you're going to think about me naked, do it on your own time."

I stifled a groan; Oh she'd begun again, it seemed to be some kind of defence mechanism she had. If she felt nervous this huge cocky, sarcastic, man eater side came out. A few snorts and snicker echoed around the room and the red headed boy, Mason, looked completely entranced by her. Who could blame him? She was putting on quite a show, but all it did was sadden me, she made herself look cheap and easy.

"This is my time, Hathaway. I'm leading today's session," replied Mason. I'd heard about the boy from Guardian Alto. He had a bright future ahead of him, he was excelling in all of his subjects and would make an excellent guardian, maybe he'd be a good influence on her.

"Oh yeah?" said Rose, "Huh. Well, I guess this is a good time to think of about me naked, then."

"It's always a good time to think about you naked," Said another boy. He was another one Guardian Alto had mentioned, that showed great potential.

I couldn't stand and listen to this anymore, it frustrated me beyond belief.

"Глупая девочка, действуя дешево, чтобы сделать ее самостоятельно чувствовать себя уверенно. Вы просто ждать, обучение девочки, вы не будете таким дерзким тогда." I muttered to myself as I walked out of the door and down the hallway to find Alto who was supposed to be supervising the session.

I found him in one of the class rooms, shuffling through books.

"Guardian Alto" i nodded

"Belikov, bad luck with the whole mentor thing eh?" Alto nodded back, his attempt at sympathy failed, he looked more amused.

"Mmmh" I grimaced "I've never taken on a student before, I think I've been fed to the wolves"

"You'd be right their Belikov, actually on second thoughts wolves would be the better option" he laughed. Eugh he was starting to irritate me.

"Anyway, I'm trying to put a training plan together and I was wondering if you could give me some background information?"

"Sure thing, I'll just go grab her old report and run through it with you."

"thanks Alto"

A few minutes later he was back with the biggest pile of paper work

"Wow you've got a lot there"

I heard faint footsteps coming down the hall and glimpsed Alberta in the doorway.

"Well Miss Hathaway and I have a very long history of run-ins, you could call it a love, hate relationship"

"Yes you love to hate each other" mused Alberta popping up behind us.

"Oh so you're another unlucky victim of Miss Hathaway's then?" I chuckled

"Ohhh you laugh now Belikov but we'll see what you say after a week of training with her!" he said giving Albert a knowing look.

"Well you better give me some pointers then" I said looking at Alberta and Guardian Alto.

"Well most of this pile is just reports from ... disputes we've had in the past" alto said, shoving the files onto the desk that I was leaning against.

"If that's what you call frequent humiliation, concussions and a broken nose!" Alberta laughed

"Well to be fair to her, I think the broken nose was an accident, I don't think she meant for the chair to hit me in the face, it was just a bonus shot" he reasoned

He walked off again down the hallway to collect some more reports to show me.

"Rose is misunderstood, with the right person to train her she could be fantastic, but before that can happen, you've got to get through to her. When Rose was still here Kirova wanted Stan to mentor her but I had to pull the plug on it for both their sakes."

Alberta sat down on the desk and continued.

"It was clear from the moment they met that it would of never worked out, they both clash far too much, as you'll see in the next lesson, they only have to be in the same room before their practically ripping each other's throats out." She sighed

"I told you about Roses upbringing and her relationship with her mother already" she asked questioningly, I replied with a nod.

"Well then, don't be fooled by what you see on the outside, I've known her practically all her life, I think of her almost as my own child, she's a very sensitive person Dimitri, she's felt alone her whole life, even with the princess, she still feels like she has to deal with her problems alone. She doesn't let people in easily, but when you get through to her, and I'm almost positive you will, she'll be the most dedicated student you'll ever have."

"Thank you for the insight Alberta" she got up to leave

And thank you for what you did back there; taking her on like that was an incredibly kind thing to do. I hope she appreciates it. You will make her into a fine Guardian Dimitri"

"Thank you Alberta" I smiled and she walked back to her position by the door.

"Ok so here's the report that was submitted for the Novice reports in combat and theory, this one's from about a month before they ran away. If I remember correctly she was on target, here we go ..." he passed the report to me to read.

_Miss Hathaway continues to make great progress in her hand to hand combat classes, showing great skill and initiative when advancing on her opponents but at times can lack the concentration to efficiently end combat because she misses opportunities. When in a defensive position Miss Hathaway takes care in blocking offensive advancements and her surroundings to the best of her ability, I have discussed with miss Hathaway on a number of occasions that when in combat with Strigoi, brute force is not a viable method of attack or defence and that due to her height and weight she needs to rely more on her foot work, however she is resistant to criticism given which makes it difficult to correct her. In order to improve she needs to follow the advice given to her by her teachers and not take it upon herself to instruct them on how to do their jobs._

I had to chuckle at that last part, it seemed like a typical thing she'd do.

_Sadly her enthusiasm for her practical work does not cross over into her theory work. Miss Hathaway struggles to stay focused in lessons and is a constant source of disruption. In a recent test on Guardian theory and personal Protection she scored an overall mark of 76%, the test paper mostly consisted of graffiti and inappropriate comments and answers to questions. Although the overall mark on the test wasn't below average, she can do far better, her attitude and misdemeanours are holding her back from achieving her full potential and I would recommend that she consider her future before and thinks about the implications of her actions before she carries them out._

I jotted down the main points to look for and went back over to my original position so I could observe her.

She was currently in combat with the red headed boy, Mason, and he was doing a pretty good job of beating her. She wasn't in good shape, she was slow, her attacks were sloppy and her position was too stiff.

Ok so first things first, we need to get her back into shape. When I'd first started my training in Russia they had made us run miles, through wood's, up mountains, across rivers. They said that before we could learn to fight a Strigoi we needed to learn how to run away from them. Strip everything back to basics. Running would be good for Rose, it would give her time to herself so she could clear her mind and think and it might even get rid of some of that anger.

The bell rang for the next class and all the students gathered their things together and moved on to their next classes.

Roses next class was with Guardian Alto. This would be fun. I couldn't hold the grimace back from my face.

"Why do you look so gloomy Belikov?" Alberta laughed as she clipped me on the back

"I'm in Alto's class next and so is Rose!"

"Good Luck with that" she laughed as she walked out the door. Great! I had to be the unlucky bastard responsible for keeping her out of trouble. How the hell was I supposed to manage that?


	5. Hanging on By a Thread

**Hey**

**Just been going through some of the other chapters and realised there are some spelling mistakes like 'dhampire' sorry D:**

**hope you like this next chapter, its not too long but im hoping to put another one up tomorrow so it should make up for it**

**Thanks for all the advice and reviews**

**Lybie :)**

**-disclaimer, sadly i dont own VA (O_o)**

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><p>I went in and took up a position on the back wall with some of the other guardians. Rose walked in soon after and sat down at a desk 2 rows across from where I was. I'm going to have to keep an eye on her.<p>

As soon as Alto walked into the room, everyone seemed to be on the edge of their seats, waiting to see what was going to happen; sure enough Alto circled the room then walked straight up to Rose's desk.

"What's this? No one told me we had a guest speaker here today. Rose Hathaway. What a privilege! How very generous of you to take time out of your busy schedule and share your knowledge with us."

Ohhh god what was he doing, I could feel the tension and anticipation building in the room, Rose glared at him which just seemed to encourage him more. Alto sniggered and gestured for her to stand up.

"Well, come on, come on. Don't sit there! Come up to the front so you can help me lecture the class."

Rose sank down into her seat. "You don't really mean—"

"I mean exactly what I say, Hathaway. Go to the front of the class." Was he seriously trying to bate her?

Rose didn't bite; for once she did exactly what she was told. She boldly stood up and strolled to the front of the class, tossing her beautiful brown hair over her shoulder. I could see the humiliation burning in her cheeks yet her eyes were fixed with determination. Everyone was on the edge of their seats; the room was silent, like the calm before a storm.

"So, Hathaway, enlighten us about your protective techniques."

"My…techniques?"

"Of course. Because presumably you must have had some sort of plan the rest of us couldn't understand when you took an underage Moroi royal out of the Academy and exposed her to constant Strigoi threats."

"We never ran into any Strigoi."

"Obviously, I already figured that out, seeing as how you're still alive." The sarcasm dripped from every word that left his mouth. This man was beginning to lose my respect; he so clearly enjoyed the humiliation he was inflicting.

Rose remained silent, for that I was proud of her.

"So what'd you do? How'd you make sure she stayed safe? Did you avoid going out at night?"

"Sometimes."

"Sometimes," he repeated "Well then, I suppose you slept during the day and stayed on guard at night."

"Er…no." She said glancing over at me.

"No? But that's one of the first things mentioned in the chapter on solo guarding. Oh wait, you wouldn't know that because _you weren't here_."

"I watched the area whenever we went out," she bit back. I could see her fighting to stay in control of her anger, her hands were balled into fists at her side and every now and then I could see her plump lips pinch together as if she were clenching her teeth.

"Oh? Well that's something. Did you use Carnegie's Quadrant Surveillance Method or the Rotational Survey?"

She still managed to keep her cool; I on the other hand was hanging on by a thread. i fought back the urge to pick Alto up by the collar and throw him against the wall. Yeban'ko maloletnee, picking on a teenage girl.

"Ah, I'm guessing you used the Hathaway Glace-Around-When-You-Remember-To Method."

"No! That's not true. I watched her. She's still alive, isn't she?"

Alto started to walk towards her again, etching his face closer and closer until his nose practically skimmed hers.

"Because you got lucky." He said every syllable very slowly in as if she were too simple to understand. It was clearly a last ditch attempt at try and make her lash out.

"Strigoi aren't lurking around every corner out there. It's not like what we've been taught. It's safer than you guys make it sound." She replied through gritted teeth.

"Safer? Safer? We are at war with the Strigoi!" he yelled, clearly furious that he hadn't broken her. "One of them could walk right up to you and snap your pretty little neck before you even noticed him—and he'd barely break a sweat doing it. You might have more speed and strength than a Moroi or a human, but you are nothing, nothing, compared to a Strigoi. They are deadly, and they are powerful. And do you know what makes them more powerful?"

Rose turned away from him at the realisation of his words. She'd thought of the princess. I could somehow sense it. For a split second I saw pain flash across her face, I could sympathise with that because I knew how it felt. Maybe this would be the wake-up call she needed. Her sharp eyes scanned the wall of guardians until they finally met me; my only response was the cool, calm, neutral guardian's mask that I so often hid behind.

"Moroi blood," Her voice was barely a whisper now.

"What was that?" he asked. "I didn't catch it." My fists clenched again behind my back but my face never gave away my anger. Alto and I would be having words later.

Rose turned and faced Alto. "Moroi blood! Moroi blood makes them stronger," she snapped, spinning back around to face him again.

"Yes. It does. It makes them stronger and harder to destroy. They'll kill and drink from a human or dhampir, but they want Moroi blood more than anything else. They seek it. They've turned to the dark side to gain immortality, and they want to do whatever they can to keep that immortality. Desperate Strigoi have attacked Moroi in public. Groups of Strigoi have raided academies exactly like this one. There are Strigoi who have lived for thousands of years and fed off generations of Moroi. They're almost impossible to kill. And that is why Moroi numbers are dropping. They aren't strong enough—even with guardians—to protect themselves. Some Moroi don't even see the point of running anymore and are simply turning Strigoi by choice. And as the Moroi disappear…" he spat.

"…so do the dhampirs," she finished.

"Well. It looks like you learned something after all. Now we'll have to see if you can learn enough to pass this class and qualify for your field experience next semester."

Alto finally decided to end her humiliation and let her returned to her seat. For the first time since I'd met her she looked truly vulnerable. Her eyes glistened a little more than they normally should, as if she was trying to hold back tears. I think Alto and I will be having a nice little chat when everybody leaves.

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	6. Little Man Syndrome

**Hey, thanks for all the comments and tips they've helped me loads :D**

**If you have any more let me know, ohhh yeh and i sadly dont own VA :(**

**but im a little bit obsessed with Dimitri (who isn't)  
><strong>

**Lybie :)**

* * *

><p>The bell finally rang to signal the end of the lesson. The novice's left for their next classes; rose practically ran out of the room, she'd been very quiet for the rest of the lesson. What he had done to her was completely unnecessary. He was a teacher, it was his job to encourage and help his students, not to stand there and belittle them so he could feel self important. Few of the guardians actually liked him because of his; quote 'little man syndrome' I think was what Celeste had called it. We'll see how big and brave he is when I'm the one looming over him.<p>

I waited for all of the other guardians to leave the room before I approached him. He was sitting at his desk, trying to look self important.

"Ahhh guardian Belikov, do you have another problem?"

"Well actually as a matter of fact I do"

"I'm sorry to hear that, what's the problem?"

"I wasn't very impressed with the way in which you handled Miss Hathaway today. You _are_ fully aware of the conditions she is being held to in order for her to continue her education here?"

"Yes, Headmistress Kirova notified all Guardians and campus staff about the arrangement."

"Well then, do you mind telling me why you were trying to geode her into lashing out at you?"

"She needed to ... see the error of her ways" he smirked. "Look Belikov, we all know Miss Hathaway is going to mess up at some point, why prologue it? She's been trouble ever since she set foot on this campus. She's impulsive, rude, obnoxious, she never listen's and quite frankly she has no chance of graduating at the end of the year, so what's the point in putting up with her?"

"And humiliating her like that was the _right_ was to go about it!" He could tell I was pissed off because his Adams apple started to bob up and down.

"Yes it was. The only way to get through to her is through hurting her. I was a guardian before you were even a twinkly in your mother's eye and I've spent 7 years teaching Hathaway. When you have my experience, then you can lecture me about my methods!"

"Granted I've not been a guardian for as long as you, but I've had a far more successful career in my 6 years of service than you have in the whole of yours. I fail to see how bullying her into submission will benefit her in any way. Everyone deserves a second chance Alto, she's made mistakes but she'll learn from them." My accent was so strong now; I doubted he could understand much of what I said.

"Why do you care so much?" he said narrowing his beady eyes at me.

"I'm her mentor; it's my job to look out for her best interests."

"Wow, aren't we taking our new job role very seriously" the sarcasm literally oozing from his mouth.

I'm done with this; he's like one of those little spitting cobras. You needed an umbrella to avoid the saliva that showers out of his mouth.

"Leave her alone Alto" I said turning and walking towards the door.

"Is that a request or a threat?"

"Take it however you like, just leave her alone." I said with finality, before ducking under the door frame and heading off to the Celeste's office.

She was taking Rose for her weight training and conditioning class so I'd gone to ask her a favour. Celeste was one of my favourite guardians at the Academy, she was quite quiet but had a wicked sense of humor, and she was a bit of a book worm like me, although she preferred all of the mushy romances stuff. She tried to get me to read P.S I love you once because i walked in on her crying whilst she was reading it and laughed at her.

"Oh hi Dimitri, I heard about what cracked off in Alto's class this morning, he was completely out of order, like I've said before, he's got little man syndrome" she said measuring about an inch with her fingers and giving me a sympathetic smile. I just rolled my eyes and laughed.

"Yeh ... well we've had words, hopefully he'll lay off her and stop causing trouble."

"If anyone can shut him up it's you" she laughed "So what can I do for you."

"Well I was wondering if you could do a general fitness test with Rose. I need to know where she's at before I start her training"

"No problem, I'll do a bleep test then check her out on the weights"

"Thanks Celeste, I best get going, I've got to go keep an eye on the Princess"

"Ok, later Belikov, I'll phone you with the results" she smiled

"That'd be great" I said ducking out the door.

The next two hours were pretty un-eventful; I'd had a call from Celeste telling me Rose was definitely behind in her fitness, she was working at a level 12 on the bleep test whilst her piers were around a level 20 and bench press endurance was poor.

The princess seemed to be the complete opposite of her friend; she was very quiet, well-mannered and hard working. It reminded me of how Ivan and I used to be. That bought a sad smile to my face. Ivan and I had been as good as brother's; we'd met when Ivan transferred to my Academy. He'd been so fun-loving and confident it had been hard not to become friends with him. Then we'd finally graduated and id been assigned to him, he'd bought me out of my shell, taken me to parties, gotten me talking to girls. He used to say "Dimka you just wait till we go to College. We'll go to one of those American ones where we can be foreign and exotic. Don't look so sceptical, you'll see, we'll be babe magnets... have them chasing after us, no one can resist my sexy smoulder" and then he'd pull the most unattractive face imaginable, which was guaranteed to make me laugh. God I really missed him.

All of the kid's in the class started to pack away signalling lunch. I slipped out before the corridors got too crowded and headed out towards the quad so I could go get something to eat and I way dying for a coffee.

I spotted Rose crossing the yard, obviously heading toward the common rooms so I fell into step beside her, intending to ask her how her day went.

"I suppose you saw what happened in Stan's class?" she asked, not even bothering to say hello.

"Yes."

"And you don't think that was unfair?"

"Was he right? Do you think you were fully prepared to protect Vasilisa?"

"I kept her alive," she mumbled.

"How did you do fighting against your classmates today?" I asked. She didn't answer me, she wasn't stupid, she knew she hadn't done very well and she was realising just how dangerous it had been for the two of them away from the Academy. I carried on "If you can't fight them—" I continued

"Yeah, yeah, I know," she interrupted. I slowed down my walking to keep in with her pace. She was hobbling along like an old woman so she'd clearly taken a good beating in lessons.

"You're strong and fast by nature. You just need to keep yourself trained. Didn't you play any sports while you were gone?" I encouraged.

"Sure," she shrugged. "Now and then."

"You didn't join any teams?"

"Too much work. If I'd wanted to practice that much, I'd have stayed here."

"You'll never be able to really protect the princess if you don't hone your skills. You'll always be lacking."

"I'll be able to protect her," she snapped.

"You have no guarantees of being assigned to her, you know—for your field experience or after you graduate. No one wants to waste the bond—but no one's going to give her an inadequate guardian either. If you want to be with her, then you need to work for it. You have your lessons. You have me. Use us or don't. You're an ideal choice to guard Vasilisa when you both graduate—if you can prove you're worthy. I hope you will."

"Lissa, call her Lissa," she said.

I just shook my head and walked off. I hope she thinks about what I said. She needs to get her priorities straight and stop acting like a child. I kept walking until I reached the staff room. I quickly made myself a coffee and a sandwich before heading back to my room to tuck in. I pulled off my shoes and sunk down onto my bed, leaning against the headboard. I needed to chill out a bit so i grabbed the new book I'd bought last week from the Waterstones in Portland. It was quite a good book actually; it was called Strongheart by Don Bendell.

'_... Joshua made a decision, he fired, fanned the hammer back and fired again, and saw a large stain of crimson in the center of Long Leg's chest as he fell back dropping his gun. Joshua immediately went to the ground rolling to his right toward the bloody corpse of Chancy, but on his way down he felt a bullet slam into the back of his left shoulder which spun him. He crawled forward quickly to Chancy's body and drew his gun and spun around, as another bullet slammed into his right thigh. He saw both Stumpy Shaw and Slim Dyer. One held a Winchester and the other a six-shooter. Instead of firing wildly Joshua knew he had to save the woman no matter how many bullets hit him. He forced himself to stand and fired first at Dyer, the rifleman, and hit him in the right hip, and then a second shot hit Dyer right on the face tearing his lower jaw off. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he fell back dead...'_

My mobile started ringing, interrupting me from my book.

"Belikov" I answered with a grown

"Hi Dimitri, its Alberta, just called to remind you that you have practice with Rose tonight."

"Chyort voz'mi! ... right ... I completely forgot, I'll go set up, thanks." I said hanging up.

"Chyort voz'mi, дерьмо, дерьмо, дерьмо"

I dug around in my cupboard until I found the box that contained all of my personal things in. Most were photos of my family that they'd sent me from missed Christmas's or birthdays. Others were from my childhood or silly pictures of me and Ivan on nights out or at football and rugby games, locked away in a box because I found them too hard to look at. Ahaaaaaa found it. My old training programs, I was glad I'd kept them now. I grabbed them and my gym bag and darted out of the door towards the gym. When I got there the gym was empty, either she'd forgotten or she was late. I waited about half an hour until I gave up and went looking for her.

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><p><strong>i know there's still some people who've favorited my stories and put them on alert but arent reviewing :(<strong>

**So ...  
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	7. Forgetting Ivan

**Hey guys,**

**This is quite a long chapter,**

**hopefully you'll learn a few more things about Dimitri and what his life was like before Rose,**

** Hope you enjoy it  
><strong>

**Lybie :)**

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><p>I'd searched the Novice dorms and cafeteria until I'd finally spotted her walking out of the feeding rooms with the princess. They looked deep in conversation, so they didn't notice me when I walked over to them.<p>

"All right then, we'll see how this goes. If anything goes wrong – anything at all – we leave. No arguments." She said with finality.

"Rose?"

At this point she actually realised that I was standing in front of her and started to look very guilty and self conscious.

What's going to go wrong? Why would she feel the need to run away again? There's something going on with the two of them, and I will get to the bottom of it. But for now I'm got to have to act oblivious.

"You're late for practice." I said in a neutral tone.

"Princess." I nodded then strolled off towards the double doors leading out towards the gym. Hopefully Rose would take the hint and follow me, but I checked to make sure just in case.

Sure enough she was hobbling along behind me but she still had that same worried look on her face, obviously she knew that I heard what she said and was afraid of the consequences.

A minute later the sound of her footsteps behind me stopped.

"Miss Hathaway, we really should get to training, you're already 40 minutes late, we'll be lucky to ..." I grumbled turning around but stopped when I saw the vacant look on her face.

"Rose... Rose are you ok?" no answer. Her eyes didn't even flicker.

I stepped closer, tucking the hair that had fallen onto her face behind her ear and tilting her chin up so I could see into her eyes.

It was similar to the look I'd seen on the plane, but studying it up close was far more unnerving, like she was physically there but her body was vacant and empty, almost like she was somewhere else.

I put my hands on either side of her shoulders and shook her gently, "Rose." Ok now I was beginning to panic a little. Was this normal? Was she ok? Was she having some kind of weird epileptic fit?

"Rose!" I shook her with a little more force than was necessary but it seemed to work because her eyes fluttered.

"Rose? Rose?" She was back again because her eyes focused on mine.

"Are you all right?" I asked, all of the concern and worry evident in my voice.

"I…yeah. I was…I was with Lissa…" she said, placing a hand on her head and wobbled it slightly as if to try and shake off what had just happened.. "I was in her head."

"Her…head?" I said confused. What? Was she ok, had she banged her head or something, she wasn't making much sense?

"Yeah. It's part of the bond."

She?... Head?... Princess?... What?... "Is she all right?" I asked confused.

"Yeah, she's…She's not in danger." She said as if questioning her own words.

"Can you keep going?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

We carried on walking to the gym, Rose went into the changing room, presumably to get changes so I wacked out my old training cards and started coming up with a raceme. Ohh she was going to love me;

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><p><span>Endurance Gym Workout<span>

Warm Up: Dynamic Stretching (Full-Body Mobilisation)

Reps: 20-25 Weight: 4kg

Cable Crossovers (Hands High, Medium, Low) to strengthen Pectoral muscles.

Superset Straight-Arm Pull downs & Wide-Grip Pull downs (to Front) to strengthen Latissimus Dorsi in the back

Superset Leg Extension & Seated Leg Press to strengthen Quadriceps

Seated Leg Curl to work the Hamstrings

Superset Lateral Dumbbell Raise & Dumbbell Shoulder Press to work the Deltoids

Superset Bicep Curl Machine & Tricep Ext. Machine to build up the Biceps & Triceps

Seated Calf Raises to work the Gastrocnemius & Soleus

Core Training: Abdominal Crunches & Lying Hip Flexion to work the Rectus Abdominis & Hip Flexors in the Stomach

Cool down: Jog and cool down stretches

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><p>I'd just finished when she walked back into the room in her gym kit.<p>

"You think that maybe you could let me off this time?" she asked.

I laughed, she's got to be joking.

"Why is that funny?"

"Oh," my smile fading. "You were serious."

"Of course I was! Look, I've technically been awake for two days. Why do we have to start this training now? Let me go to bed," she whined. "It's just one hour."

No way was she getting out of it that easily. I crossed my arms over my chest and gave her a serious look. "How do you feel right now? After the training you've done so far?" I asked.

"I hurt like hell." She grimaced

"You'll feel worse tomorrow."

"So?"

"So, better to jump in now while you still feel…not as bad."

"What kind of logic is that?" she moaned

I didn't feel like arguing anymore so I just shook my head and led her to the weight room. I showed her how to fix the weights and told her I wanted 20 reps. I gave her the training plan I'd just thought up and set her to work. She thought she ached now; she won't be able to walk tomorrow. Then i just kicked back in a corner, pulled out my book and carried on from where I'd left off.

"_Now, Joshua turned, and barely able to walk, started towards Long Legs. Annabelle ran forward, tears streaming, "Oh Mr. Strongheart. You have been shot over and over."_

_He grinned, "They are just little holes in me. Don't worry."_

_Then he fell forward into her arms in a faint. His weight took both of them to the ground. She tried to lower him as gently as she could while falling with him on top of her. He opened his eyes, and was an inch from her face. They stared briefly into each other's eyes, and he smiled._

"_Annabelle," he teased, "We just met."_

_He stood, and she grinning, jumped up, helping him raise up on wobbly legs. She immediately started tearing shreds from her petticoat and started bandaging his wounds. Joshua smiling pushed her aside..."_

"Hehumph" she coughed to get my attention as I glanced up at her.

"Errrrr I think I'm done?"

"Ok, we'll do some cool down stretches, it'll help to loosen your muscles a bit and stop you being so stiff." She nodded and began to copy what I demonstrated.

"How'd you end up as Lissa's guardian?" she asked while stretching. "You weren't here a few years ago. Were you even trained at this school?"

It took me a moment to think of what to say. Since id been at the Academy nobody had asked me anything about my personal life, so it kind of caught me off guard.

"No. I attended the one in Siberia." I said casually, although it was obvious from my accent I wasn't from around here.

"Whoa. That's got to be the only place worse than Montana."

I inwardly smiled at that, everyone thought that Siberia was some kind of desolate wasteland, Ivan used to complain all the time about how boring it was, but to me it always had a kind of harsh, unforgiving beauty to it that intrigues me. Being away from it for so long made me really missed it.

"After I graduated, I was a guardian for a Zeklos lord. He was killed recently." I couldn't bring myself to mention his first name; it was still painful to even think about him. "They sent me here because they needed extras on campus. When the princess turned up, they assigned me to her, since I'd already be around. Not that it matters until she leaves campus."

"Did this lord die on your watch?" I flinched at that.

"No. He was with his other guardian. I was away." I'd spent so long blaming myself for his death. It was Paul's 7th birthday and he'd practically begged me to come home.

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><p><em>Flash back<em>

"_Эй, __мой золотой мальчик__, как вы __делаете, вы__рады за__твой день рождения__"_

_(Hey __my golden boy__, how you doing, are you excited for your birthday?)_

Дядя Дима, я не золото, я просто мальчик, но я большой мальчик, потому что я собираюсь быть 7!

_(silly uncle Dimka I'm not gold I'm just a boy, but I'm a big boy now because I'm going to be 7!)_

"Ничего себе, вы на самом деле хозяин дома сейчас! И что я должен получить большой мальчик на день рождения то?"

_(Wow, you really are the man of the house now! And what am I supposed to get a big boy for his birthday then?)_

_I'd gotten him a little duster just like mine because whenever I went home I'd always catch him trying to walking around in mine. Last time he's managed to break mama's glass vase when he'd tripped over the sleeves._

_"__Я __хочу, чтобы вы__приходите домой__на день рождения__"__ he interrupted._

_(I want you to come home for my birthday)_

_"__Ohhhh __Павел,__я действительно__не могу"__ Just then Ivan walked into the room._

_(Ohhhh Paul, I really can't)_

"_But if I came to see you who'd look after Ivan? He's not capable of looking after himself. He can't even tie his own shoe laces." I laughed switching to English for his benefit. Even though Ivan had finished his Education in Siberia, his Russian was shockingly bad, he'd once asked for a steak jacket instead of leather._

"_Oi!, cheeky git!" Ivan said with shock horror as he threw a throw pillow off the sofa at me and for once he didn't miss._

"_Well I can tie my own shoe laces all by myself now, Vikka's been teaching me, tell uncle Ivan I will teach him." I laughed and relayed the message to Ivan._

"_uncle Dimka, please come home for my birthday, mummy said she's going to get me this big red fire truck that shoots water and everything, if you come we can share it and play with it together." He pleaded._

"_Is that the family?" Ivan asked_

"_yeh its Paul, he's telling me all about what he's getting for his birthday" I laughed_

_With that he snatched the phone out of my hand._

"_Just hijacking the phone!" I muttered_

"_Hey little man, how are the muscles coming along?" I herd something along the lines of "I'm not little I'm a big boy, I'm going to be a guardian just like my uncle Dimka!" Which made me chuckle but I could only hear Ivan talking for the rest of the conversation._

"_Yes you are, then you're going to come guard me so you can boss him about"_

_..._

"_Yeh thats right... so what do you want for your birthday then ... seems as you're a big boy now maybe I should get you a shaving kit oooohhh or a car, you can drive right?"_

_..._

"_No! What do they teach you at school, don't worry I'll teach you I'm an awesome driver, I'm better then Michel shoemaker!"_

_..._

"_Well we can't be having that now can we, don't worry you'll have your uncle Dimka for your birthday, I'll even put a bow on his head if you like" He laughed_

_..._

"_Ok, I'll see you soon, bye mate" and hung up the phone._

_..._

"_What the little fella wants the little fella gets" Ivan stated._

"_What?" i asked confused_

"_you're going to have some time off, chill out , go see your family and make Paul's birthday" He stated._

"_I can't, I'm not leaving you unprotected"_

"_I have guardian Reeve to take care of me, I'll be fine."_

"_Are you sure?"_

"_Yes I'm positive, now am I going to have to kick your ass back home or will you go willingly."_

"_I'd like to see you try" I scoffed as he kicked me in the ass and started off a scuffle with me, he didn't get very far, I just put my hand on his head as he tried to reach me. It ended with me getting him in a headlock._

"_Fine... Fine... I give in...YOU WIN!" he gasped, finally admitting defeat after about 2 minutes of struggling._

"_That wasn't so hard was it" I laughed as I let go._

"_Go pack you __чудовищно__маленький человек__" __he said, pushing me out of the door._

"_Don't you mean large?" I laughed_

"_Whatever, go pack your steroids"_

"_I don't need steroids, I'm 100% prime, sexy, Russian MAN!" I said prancing around flexing my biceps and wiggling my eyebrows. That earned me another pillow in the face so I ran up the stairs to pack._

* * *

><p>"Hey," Rose said pulling me out of my memories.<p>

"Did you help come up with the plan to get us back? Because it was pretty good. Brute force and all that."

I arched an eyebrow in suprise "You're complimenting me on that?"

"Well, it was a hell of a lot better than the last one they tried."

"Last one?" I was confused.

"Yeah. In Chicago. With the pack of psi-hounds."

"This was the first time we found you. In Portland."

"Um, I don't think I imagined psi-hounds. Who else could have sent them? They only answer to Moroi. Maybe no one told you about it."

"Maybe," I could have sworn we were the first group to actually track them down. Why would they send psi-hounds? She must have been mistaken.

"Ok I think that's it for today" I said as we finished our stretches. She hobbled to the side, doing a very good impression of an old granny. I started to laugh without realising which got me a death stare from Rose.

"I suggest you go back up to your dorm and take a cold bath, it'll make your muscles ache less tomorrow" I commented trying to bite my cheeks to stop me from smiling.

"Ohhh you think this is really funny don't you! I'm in pain and you've inflicted it" she hissed whilst she grabbed hold of one of the fighting canes for support. That was my undoing; I snorted far too loudly as she met my eyes and tried to stare me down.

"I'm sorry Roza, it's the way you're holding on to that cane, it makes you look like my babushka with her walking stick." She just stared at me shaking her head whilst I grinned at her like a fool, but she finally cracked a smile at me.

"Goodbye Dimitri" she laughed as she walked out of the gym.

"Don't forget the cold bath, you'll thank me for it tomorrow" I called after her before packing everything away and heading off to my own room.

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	8. Sorry i havent updated!

**Hey guys,**

**Im so sorry i havent updated,**

**i just had my 18th BIRTHDAY! so i've been really buisy celebrating but when i came back on i had 32 Reviews! **

**Anywayz i've just uploaded a new fanfic called A badass christmas carol, i think i have a thing about this hole 'badass' thing because it keeps creeping into the titles when i try and come up with them.**

**Anyway heres a little extract but the start and end of it is missing so please go read the whole thing and tell me what you think!**

**MERRY CHRISTMAS (or is it still too early to say that?) **

**Lybie :)**

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><p>... Lissa turned beat red with embarrassment, "That's it, I want payback for this" she said.<p>

I Nodded in agreement, "me too".

"Same" said Mia.

"Well show them what 'whipped' really is" Lissa muttered.

"The best way to get at a man is either through his pocket or his pants, I vote we go celibate" added Mia.

"Way to bring the sexual frustration, but it'll be worth it." I added.

"Well if you're going to do this you need to get back at all of them, Adrian included, all or nothing." Jill said.

"Ok then Us vs. Them, Deal?" I said, glancing at each of them.

"Deal" they all agreed.

_**D: well I'm the one who has to have all the self control in our relationship, sometimes I wonder if Roza has any, it doesn't matter where we are she just jumps on me and ...**_

That was it, it was time for intervention, I was extremely angry by this point. It had gone from being funny to stepping way, way, way over the line. We all practically pounced on them.

"Ohhhhhhhh really, AND I'm a fucking prick tease, anything else you'd like to tell me... what no... And were supposed to be the ones who gossip like old women!" I growled before Dimitri could even finish his sentence, he seemed to go very quiet and pale all of a sudden, actually they all did.

"Oh you'll put your foot down will you Eddison, how about I put my foot down, on your head!" Mia hissed

"What's wrong with my throw cushions, they make everywhere look nice" Lissa said pouting

"LISSA!" me and Mia hissed at the same time " Ohhhh and as for being the king of the bedroom, we'll see how well you do when you're missing you're missing your vital organ!" she hissed, trying to make up for her first comment. Trust her to think about the cushions.

"Roza we were just joking..." I cut him off with a 'make one more sound and I'll castrate you' look

"Well if you think that was teasing, I'll show you what a real prick tease is Dimitri Belikov!"

"W..w... what do you mean?" he stuttered worriedly...

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><p><strong>And if you want to know what happens next ( i hope you do O_O ) you'll have to go read it ;P<strong>


	9. Good morning to you too!

**Hey Guys,**

**Re-done this chapter because I wasn't happy with how it flowed, hope you like it,**

**ohh yeh and i saw this question on another fanfic today and it got me thinking a bit so i thought i'd ask you but i'll put it at the end**

**Enjoy  
><strong>

**Lybie ****:)**

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><p>She was late. Again.<p>

"Good morning Rose" I nodded as she eventually walked through the gym doors for morning practice.

"Is it?" she grunted, throwing down her gym bag.

"I take it you're not a morning person then?" I muttered

"What makes you think I'm not always this chirpy?" she snapped, stretching her arms up and cracking her muscles with a little wince.

"How you feeling?" I half smiled

"Fine" she said, although she clearly wasn't. She looked like crap. Her eyes had deep, dark circles under them and her hair had been messily pulled back into a band so that there were stray hairs falling on her face.

"What do you want me to do?" She said shortly.

"Errr you can start with 6 laps of the track, I'll time you so hurry up"

She stared at me as if I were a complete moron, ok she was starting to make me feel a bit self-conscious now. I was speaking English right?

"You know what running is don't you?" I said raising an eyebrow.

"Yes!" she answered sharply, jumping up on her feet.

"Well then get on with it" I turned away and walked over to the rowing machine to start my own warm up. She obviously finally got the hint that I wasn't joking because she left the gym mumbling what I expected to be profanities under her breath. Ahhhh I wonder how she's going to react when she finds out she's doing that every morning.

After 20 minutes I started to get a little bit concerned. Where was she? It took me well under 10 minutes to do 6 laps. I decided to go check, I wouldn't put it past her to go back to slack off or get distracted.

Stepping out into the cold air I studied the track, looking for Roza and spying a distant figure resembling her, lying on the ground with her legs propped up. As I neared closer to her i could she her chest rising and falling rapidly, as she panted for air.

"You ok?" I asked, glancing down at the crumpled figure below me.

"Yep" she said "Just ... about... to come back... back in" gasping for air. Dam she was out of shape, I'd got some serious work ahead of me if I was going to get her up to scratch for graduation.

We finally went back inside and carried on with the daily routine of weights and conditioning. By the end of the session Rose looked like hell, I could tell she was in some pain because every now and then she'd wince at something I'd make her do, but she'd have to learn to work through it. When fighting strigoi you had to learn to switch off pain and show no sign of weakness.

"Stretch it out Rose" I said chucking her a bottle of water, whilst taking a big gulp of my own.

She did her cool down stretches then went over to reach down for her bag, cringing and gripping her back.

"Here, let me get it" I sad reaching over and picking it up for her.

"Are you really that bad?" I asked, raising one of my eyebrows at her.

"It's nothing, just a few bruises from practicing with the other novices" she grimaced

"Let me see?" I asked, but she just grimaced again clearly not wanting to show me and admit weakness.

"Roza, let me see, I might be able to help" I ordered.

"It's really nothing" she complained, lifting up her blue tank top to reveal her flat stomach, marbled with bruises. Not good. From what I could see, most of the damage was to her ribs, which were really swollen, a few carried on up towards her chest and disappeared underneath the black webbing of her lace bra.

"дерьмо Roza, haven't you been blocking their hits?" I asked, shocked at the state her body was in.

"Well... I... I'm kinda behind on some of the stuff the other novices have been taught... They keep getting around my blocks and ..." she trailed off, looking at the floor.

"Maybe I should talk to Guardian Alto and ask him to give you a more evenly matched partner"

"No!" she almost shouted "I can handle it, I'm no pussy..."

"LANGUAGE!" I growled.

"Sorry. I don't want special treatment; I knew what I was getting into." She said firmly. We stood there in silence for what felt like an age, our gazes fixed as if she were willing me to let her have her way. I sighed, caving in and agreeing not to do say anything. That didn't mean I wasn't going to do anything, I wasn't about to let her go back to combat class and take a beating again.

"Here, show me how you block" I instructed, standing squarely in front of her as she tried to position herself in a defensive position.

"God Rose, you're postures really sloppy, you need to make it stronger, like this" i said.

"Clentch your fists... ok now position your arms so they protect your body, which hand do you write with?"

"Left" she replied, engrossed in my movements although I saw her eyes flick over my biceps and chest every now and again.

"Ok, the same as me, so ... left hand leads ... position it like this so its protecting your face... then right hand goes here ... just covering your chest where your heart is." I demonstrated.

"Now try and hit me" I nodded. She took a weak swing at me which I neatly deflected, not that it would of hurt, there was no power in it.

"Poor effort Rose" I said shaking my head "You have to use your body weight in each swing, enough of it to inflict damage but not too much to make you lose your balance, it's all about moderation. Try again" I instructed

She managed to just catch the side of my arm with an ok blow, as I dodged her hit.

"Much better" I smiled. " Right now try the defensive position " I instructed as she tried to poorly imitate what I'd done.

"Here..." I said positioning myself behind her, "... like this" placing her back against my chest and grabbing her hands to show her where to put them. "There ... Now straighten your back and bend your legs so you can take any of the impact you might get"

Being this close to her, I could smell the sweet, floral scent of her shampoo mixed with her perspiration. I could see how her breath made the loose strands of her hair flutter around her face and ...

"Like this" she bushed, snapping me out of it.

"Better, just remember to clench your fists a little more" I said stepped away and returning to stand in front of her again.

"Ok I'll put these on so I don't give you anymore bruises, but next time I won't be this soft on you" I smiled. She gave me a determined look, pulling all of the strength she had into her defence.

"You ready?" I asked

"Bring it on" she growled, little lines crinkled her forehead which made her look... dare I say ... Cute?

I threw her a few good hits that she managed to deflect fairly well, making me feel slightly better about sending her back into a class full of novices again.

"That's good Rose, but don't be so wooden, move around, look for openings when your opponent might be distracted." I said dropping my hands. She took the opportunity alright, I hadn't been quite expecting it but luckily my instincts took over. As her fist came flying towards my stomach, _my_ hand shot out and grabbed it, twisting her around and pulling her firmly against my chest. My arm wrapped around her chest preventing the other hand from moving. We both stood there for what seemed like an eternity, me catching my breath and her gulping for air. I snapped out of my trance and let go of her wrists and released my arm from around her chest, slipping my guardian mask back into place.

"I...erm...you did good Rose, much better, keep that up and I think you'll be returning some of those bruises" I nodded.

"Thanks Dimitri ... for the help and ... stuff" she said tripping over her words before grabbing her bag.

"I'll see you at practice later" I nodded before she walked out.

"Что, черт возьми, со мной не так" i muttered whilst stuffing my things into my gym bag. She's just some delinquent girl, how can she have me tripping over my own words? I smiled thinking of her crinkling her for head when she was trying to concentrate, I was growing quite fond of her.

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><p><strong>Ok, so the question is: <em>What celebrity or person do you think of when you imagine Dimitri?<em>**

**Alot of people say Ben Barnes but personally i can't really see him. Mines always a cross between Travis Davenport (in the chanel N5 ads) and Joe Manganiello, anyway check them out and tell me who you think of**

**Ohhhh and dont forget READ AND REVIEW! :D**


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